Caught in The Act

Caught In The Act: Matt Halpern

By Radim McCue, Photos By Alex Wohleber

Published Jan 14, 2014

Artist: Matt Halpern

Where: Carrboro, NC

Venue: Cat's Cradle

Periphery's tour kicked off this week in North Carolina and we got shots of Matt Halpern in performance and giving a class in a bar. Who knows? It's a trend that could catch on. Matt is on the cover of DRUM!'s February 2015 issue with an interview that takes you inside his playing secrets and survival tips for today's drummers.

Middle East To Cuba: Journeys With Street Drum Corps

By Radim McCue

Published November 12, 2014

During their recent ten-year anniversary, Street Drum Corps got the chance to visit US military installations in the Middle East, Africa, and Cuba and to see a lot of countries around the world. We asked Frank Zummo to send pics of their journey as he and co-founders Adam and Bobby Alt traveled the world. They got to play at several bases, and had a lot of fun, but as Frank says, "The best part of the trip was performing for the troops and their families."

Chilling under the Flag of Bahrain.

Visiting musical groups have been a staple at American military bases for a century.

Caught In The Act: Nashville Drum Show

By Radim McCue, Photographs by Bob Campbell

Published October 23, 2014

Nashville Drum Show impresario George Lawrence, also the publisher of Not So Modern Drummer, was nice enough to offer some photos to us from the show, as we didnt' make it out to Nashville for the event on September 18 and 19, 2014./p>

By all accounts it was a good show, with tons of vintage and custom gear, some interesting clinics and a great vide. For more, and there's plenty of good stuff, check out the Facebook page here.

Tommy Lee: How Does The Cruecifly Fly?

By Phil Hood

Published August 28, 2014

Tommy in flight (above,) and his custom E-Pro live kit (below).

All Bad Things Must Come To An End is the final tour of Motley Crue and Tommy Lee. Those who have seen the shows know Tommy is playing Tommy new Pearl E-Pro Live drum kit and rollercoaster rig—The Cruecifly.

What you may not know is how this differs from his standard rig. After all, playing upside down sixty feet in the air is not an everyday occurrence. First, the Cruecifly went through an exhausting series of tests to make sure it worked. They tried various configurations in order to understand what setup would work best. They had to take into consideration the width and length of drums in proporation to the riser, the distribution of weigh on the platform and the reaction of the drum set while upside down and traveling. Once that was right they had to make sure that Tommy could sit comfortably behind the kit and that it was still playable. Even with all that in mind, due to safety considerations, the Cruecifly has only made an appearance at some of the venues on the tour.

The tour runs through November 22, 2014, so you've still got time to see it. Go to Motley.com

Here's a fan video of the Cruecifly (above) and the view from Tommy's seat (below).